School board looks at building project

Representatives of the architectural firm EI Associates met with the Greencastle-Antrim School Board Thursday night to discuss plans to expand the middle and high schools.

“We will be adding on to the schools,” said board President Brian Hissong. “It’s just a matter of what that will look like.”

Joshua Vaughn/The Record Herald

GREENCASTLE — Representatives of the architectural firm EI Associates met with the Greencastle-Antrim School Board Thursday night to discuss plans to expand the middle and high schools.

“We will be adding on to the schools,” said board President Brian Hissong. “It’s just a matter of what that will look like.”

Current plan

What’s on the table now is a building plan that was approved in January 2011, but never put into play. Projected to cost $28 million, it would connect the high school and middle school with an addition that Mark Barnhardt, EI Associates senior vice president, said would act as a hub for the schools.

The planning is still in the preliminary stages but what’s being discussed is a 60,000-square-foot hub that would allow the consolidation of the administration offices into one location, opening more space for much needed classrooms.

The project also calls for improvements to the existing infrastructure, IT, HVAC, lighting, plumbing and Americans With Disabilities Act compliance.

Growth

Expansion is needed because the school district is rapidly approaching capacity, 25 students per classroom. According to an EI Associates projection, the high school reached capacity last year, and the district overall would reach capacity by next school year. Their projections showed the school district would add 1,000 new students over the next 10 years.

According to Dr. C. Gregory Hoover, superintendent, over the last 20 years Greencastle-Antrim School District has grown more than the rest of the districts in Franklin County combined. He said that while most districts are losing students, Greencastle has consistently grown at a rate of one and a half percent per year.

Cost concerns

At this point the project is slated to cost $28 million. Of that only $19.7 million is subject to reimbursement by the state at rate of just less than 48 percent. The maximum reimbursement is based on a formula of the number of students and capacity.

“Cost,” said board member Michael Still when asked what his biggest concern about the project was. “We have a big problem with population growth that we have to control within the money that we have.”

In a timetable set out by EI Associates, construction would take place between 2015 and 2016 with doors opening in August 2016.

According to Jolinda Wilson, business manager, for the board to live within its debt the timetable would need to be pushed back by a year. At that pace, the new addition would open for the 2017-18 school year.

Cutting costs

Among several cost cutting options EI Associates proposed at the meeting was moving art and music from traditional classrooms and making them mobile activities. This would expand the number of classrooms, raising the capacity of the school, which in turn would increase the amount of reimbursement from the state.

Robert Crider, director of educational operations, voiced concerns about this proposal.

“As director of education, I want the board be informed along the way of the decisions they can make,” said Crider. “Those are the decisions the board could choose to make. I would not recommend them at this point, because there are many things that are important to education and the arts is one them. Having space for students to access those programs in the best way possible, I think is just something that before we just do that to save dollars we have a discussion of what that really means.”

Moving forward

At this point, the project is still in its infancy. The full PlanCon process has 10 steps, labeled A-J. Currently the district has taken steps on PlanCon A and B only. Bids for construction are not accepted until PlanCon G.

Board member Joel Fridgen, who is not seeking re-election this November, voiced concerns of moving too quickly before new board members are elected and take their seats in December.

Over the next three months the board is expected to work with EI Associates to gather more information on how the 2-year-old plans can be updated to better suit the needs of the school district.

The board will meet next at 6 p.m. Sept. 5. More information is expected to be discussed about the construction plans at the meeting.

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